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As most know, the word “Babel” comes from an ancient Bible story, and when translated from its original Hebrew it actually means . . . “total waste of time.”
There have been a lot of movies lately that use flash-backs as a way to tell the story. In most cases, that just causes confusion for the audience. But in Babel, they cleverly and effectively use flash-backs, flash-forwards and even flash-currents. With this technique, they weave three different stories together that take place all over the globe. Some how, they are all connected. They center around the main story of Richard (Brad Pitt) and Susan (Cate Blanchett) who are in Morocco for vacation when she is suddenly shot in the next. This sets the stage for the tone of every scene and for every character in the movie…complete and profound desperation. From a girl in China, to a boy in Morocco, to a Nanny in the US, and back to Richard and Susan, all are desperate. Some are desperate to just belong or understand, some are desperate to find love and some are simply desperate just to survive.
We actually liked this movie better last year, when it was called Crash! Babel is pretty much the same concept, and – like Crash – it represents some good filmmaking. Babel also does a good job of reminding us that, whether you’re an illegal immigrant, a Moroccan goat rancher, or Brad Pitt, we’re all just people. But, unlike Crash – which won an Oscar for being fantastic – Babel, despite its intensity, moves too slow, is too long, and is much too tragic, which makes watching it an ordeal. Despite its many positives, the constant desperation is so depressing that we cannot recommend seeing Babel to anyone.
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On the Movie Night Traffic Light on a scale of GREEN meaning “Go – it’s a must see”, YELLOW meaning “Caution – it’s okay” and RED meaning “No - stop don’t do it."
We rate Babel RED. Stop - the movie is well made, but the story is way too much of a downer to be entertaining or worth seeing. |
